


Deciphering Draco

by captaindkirk



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Missing Persons, Presumed Dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 22:37:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16293131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captaindkirk/pseuds/captaindkirk
Summary: Prompt:Draco Malfoy is unaccounted for and presumed dead after the final battle. While most of her friends think he probably deserved whatever his fate was, Hermione is the only one who is determined to follow a trail of clues to discover the truth.





	Deciphering Draco

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [DramioneFanfictionForumHalloween2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/DramioneFanfictionForumHalloween2018) collection. 



'You think he's really dead?"   
"Hmm?" Hermione replied, lost in thought.   
"Draco, do you think he's really dead?" Harry clarified.   
"I don't know, I don't think so. If he isn't and his parents know then they're pretty convincing actors." She told him, motioning to Narcissa and Lucius, who were standing near a portrait of Draco.   
Narcissa was sobbing into Lucius' chest whilst he stood staring solemnly at the picture of his son that was hanging on the wall in the Great Hall.   
"If the Wizengamot came to that conclusion then I guess he must be." Harry concluded.   
"I guess so, although this is the same Wizengamot that let Narcissa and Lucius get away with saying they were under a cruciatus spell, so you never know." She mused.   
Hermione was sure the Chief Warlock had been bribed. The Malfoys had been given minimal punishment and only had to be tracked at all times. They'd managed to get out of spending any time at Azkaban unlike the rest of the people that had been under suspicion for helping Voldemort. If Draco was really dead then Hermione supposed that was quite a brutal punishment as well. Although with the Malfoys involved, anything was possible. Draco could just be sat at home, or it could be something much more sinister. 

Her thoughts were interrupted again, this time by McGonagall. She was addressing everyone with a speech. Minerva barely made it through without shedding a tear. When she'd finished, everyone in the room raised their wands and let out little sparks from the tips. The faces of everyone that had been lost as a result of the final battle appeared amongst the sparks. Hermione heard a sob from beside her, coming from George who had been holding it together until now. She moved closer to him, gripping his hand as she got to him. The rest of the Weasleys were huddled next to him too. Hermione had cried so much in the past four months since the battle, that she didn't think she had anymore tears left in her, but they silently fell as she watched the family grieve. Even though months had passed, the emotions were still raw. 

McGonagall had to decide to integrate a memorial with the grand reopening of Hogwarts, and unveiling of the new section of the Great Hall that was a memorial to the people they had lost. It was the day before all the students were due to return for their next year of studying. Hermione and many other students in her year, had decided to repeat last year, most of them had gotten through until May so weren't required to attend yet. Ron and Hrry however, had both been offered places on the Auror program, which they both happily accepted. Hermione had also also been offered a place, but turned it down as she wanted to go back to studying so that she could be involved in the welfare of magical creatures. 

After a long silence, people started filtering out of the Great Hall to the safe point to apparate home. Minerva walked over to where Hermione, Harry and the Weasleys were standing.   
"I'm looking forward to you coming back tomorrow Hermione, I'm glad so many of you are returning." The headmaster told her.   
"I can't wait to be back. I miss structure and having something to focus on." Hermione replied.   
"I can understand that. How are your parents doing now?" She asked.   
"Very well thank you. They still have the odd moment of confusion, but it's only been a short time since the reverse therapy has finished. They know who I am again, so that's all that matters." She smiled.   
"That's wonderful news. I'm so pleased." Minerva smiled back. "And you two, already working at the ministry! I'm very proud."  
Ron and Harry both said thank you, before shaking her hand. Minerva however, pulled them in for a hug instead.  
"You're welcome here whenever." She informed them.

Minerva made her way through the rest of the Weasleys offering her condolences and a hug before making her way back to Hermione.   
"Are you staying in the castle tonight with the others? I had an extra tower made in the rebuild, for the students repeating the year. There's no house separation, only boys and girls dorms." She explained.   
"I may as well. I've been packed and ready for days." She replied, motioning to her handbag.   
The extendable charm that she had on it, still came in handy.   
"Brilliant, I'll show you to the dorm. Some of the others are already up there,"

Hermione said her goodbyes to Harry and the Weasleys before following McGonagall out of the Great Hall. Before long they reached the new part of the building. They climbed the stairs and reached a portrait door, which swung open when McGonagall spoke the word 'octava'. They made their way through the doorway, The common room had two stairwells either side of the room, which Hermione assumed led to the bedrooms. There were a few students scattered around the room, some huddled together, mainly within their houses. It was going to be a struggle in the bedrooms, she could already tell, she knew McGonagall was trying to break down the barriers between the houses. Hermione recognised most of the students but not by name, the only person there that she knew personally was Luna, who at that moment, came bounding over to her. 

"Hi! I'm so glad you're here!" Luna almost squealed, pulling her in for a hug.   
Hermione welcomed the hug, and wrapped her arms completely round her blonde friend.   
"It's good to see you Luna. I'm glad you're here too." She told her.  
"We get to be roomies this year! How great is that?" Luna beamed.  
"Pretty great!" Hermione smiled back.   
Hermione turned back to say goodbye to McGonagall but she nhad already left, so she let Luna guide her to wear she had been sitting previously. They chatted for a while about what they had been up to over the summer for the rest of the night before heading up to their bedroom.   
Hermione was happy to see her trunk at the end of the bed next to Luna's. She changed into her pyjamas before finally tucking herself into the warm covers. She wasn't sure what kind of enchantment the school used to keep the quilts consistently at the right temperature no matter what the weather was, but she definitely needed to find out for home. It didn't take her long to drift to sleep. 

__________

Hermione woke to the sound of Luna rummaging around in her trunk beside her.   
"Morning!" Luna beamed, in her sing songy voice.   
"Morning." She replied, not quite so cheery.   
"I'm going to go for a walk around the grounds, check for dark magic before the everyone arrives back."   
Hermione vaguely remembered seeing a news article over the summer about how Xenophillius had invented a dark magic tracking object. It was like a muggle metal detector, only more compact.   
"The only problem, is that I can't find it in my trunk." Luna continued.   
She resumed her search by chucking most of the contents of her trunk onto the floor.   
"Why don't you just 'accio' it?" Hermione suggested.  
"Ah, for the simple fact that I don't currently know where my wand is either."  
Hermione picked up her wand from the night stand, and summoned her friends wand. It flew through the door to the bedroom and into her hand.  
"Brilliant, thanks." Luna said whilst taking the wand from her.   
Luna summoned the device, and it dropped down from the canopy above the bed.   
"Ah yes, I hid it there so that no one could take it."   
As Luna left, Hermione got herself up out of bed and found some clothes to wear. She wasn't required to wear her robes until the other students started arriving later on.   
She had decided that she would try and get a start on the reading for the year, she already had a basic knowledge of everything they'd be covering that year because she'd looked into it before everything had happened, but she wanted to make sure she was definitely ready. 

She made her way down to the library, slightly daunted by the fact that there was only the odd student about. Hermione was used to the halls being full of hustle and bustle. It was almost chilling not having everyone there. She entered the library and fully embraced the wooden smell like an old friend. That smell was definitely what she had missed whilst she'd been away from Hogwarts. She quickly found some of the books she'd need and pulled some parchment and a quill from her bag and placed them on the table she always found herself at. A chill went through her as she got to the table, her mind flashing back to memories from her times in the library before everything got so crazy. 

_Hermione had papers and books spread out all over the table, studying hard for a quiz they had in potions the next night. She knew she had it covered, but she also knew what Snape was like, and there was bound to be something she got stuck on. It felt almost as if he did it on purpose. She was deep into a section about the benefits of a new root that had been discovered when a familiar blonde sat down sulkily at her table._  
"Can I help you?" She asked, as sarcastically as she could manage without taking her eyes off the book she was reading.   
"Actually yes you can Granger. You've got the book I need." Draco replied.   
"Well, you'll have to wait. I'm using it." She told him matter of factly.   
"The library shuts in an hour, I know you'll keep it until it shuts, if not longer." He moaned.   
"Should've got here earlier then."  
"No one can get here earlier than you, some of us have lives."   
"Yes because offending me is really the way to get me to give you the book." She finally looked up from the book just to roll her eyes at him.   
"Please, I'll beg if I have to. There's only one copy, and I need to ace that test tomorrow."  
He almost looked scared. Hermione could only imagine he'd be in trouble at home if he ever failed anything. She decided to bargain with him. After all, she was still using it, and he was Malfoy.   
"Get me a coffee, and I'll share the book with you."   
"Share?" He replied, with a lot of disgust in the tone of his voice.   
She didn't reply, and just left him to think over his options. She had half expected him to hex her and take it anyway but he walked away instead. Hermione shrugged her shoulders and carried on reading. She hadn't expected him to come back, but 5 minutes later he waltz back over with two cups filled with coffee. He placed it down on the table beside her roughly, and was lucky it didn't spill, before sitting down beside her.   
"If you ever mention this, I'll crucio you so hard." He warned.   
Hermione took a small sip of the coffee. The thought that he'd poisoned it did cross her mind, but she knew even Draco wasn't stupid enough to kill her in the library. The warm drink tasted of chocolate and vanilla as well as the usual coffee taste that the machine in the library churned out.   
"Mocha with vanilla syrup." He informed her. "A must have for studying. Makes the coffee taste a lot nicer."   
They sat in a strangely comfortable silence for the last hour the library was open, both reading and making notes and sipping at their coffees. 

With the thought of the mocha fresh in her mind, she decided to see if their hiding place still had a stash of the chocolate powder sachets and vanilla syrup. Draco had felt her in on the secret around a month after they had started their private study sessions, and she wondered whether it would all still be there, or even still in date. She made a mental note to replace it if it was out of date, it would come in handy now she was back at school. 

Hermione made her way over to the coffee machine, and kicked the leg of the table it was sat on three times. A small drawer popped out, and there was still goodies there, even some marshmallows, and everything was in date. They had really long dates left on them, which seemed weird to Hermione, they must have been sat for at least a year without being touched. She started the coffee machine up and grabbed the box of cocoa powder sachets. Absentmindedly, she opened the box and picked up a sachet, only when she focused on what she was doing again she found she'd picked up a card instead. It was a Dumbledore chocolate frog card, and under the question favourite sweet the words sherbet lemon was underlined. She pocketed the card and still confused, carried on making the drink. Had Draco left the card there by mistake? Had he stashed it there so no one would know he actually owned it? Probably the latter. Hermione couldn't figure it out, surely he wouldn't have it as some sort of memento? And why was lemon sherbet underlined? She was sure it wasn't meant to be.   
The coffee machine beeped at her, indicating that it was ready to be used, pulling her away from her thoughts. She finished making her drink and headed back to the table and placed the cup down before getting herself lost in the books. It was only when Madame Pince cleared for her throat beside her and motioned to the time that Hermione realised the day had gotten away from her and it was time to get ready for dinner.

_______

Luna was nowhere to be found when Hermione got back to the dorms, and no one else was around either. She quickly got into her robes and made her way down to the Great Hall.   
Luna waved her over and motioned to an empty seat next to her and she happily accepted. The food was already on the tables, and looked incredible. The fact she'd missed lunch was starting to kick in. They had to wait for the first years to be sorted before they ate though, not that Ron ever did. A strange pang of what felt like homesickness went through her. It felt wrong not having her two closest friends there. Ron would have gotten his arm swatted for eating too soon, and she was sure Harry would have been in some sort of trouble meaning he was late to dinner. Her thoughts were interrupted again. This time by cheering of the Gryffindors around her. The first student sorted had been placed in their house.   
Student by student the hat sorted through them, and before she knew it she was finally able to eat. Although she was sure that there was less students this year. A lot of people were still recovering from the war, so it was to be expected. 

When dinner was done Hermione and Luna walked back to the dorms together, Luna happily reporting back that she hadn't found anything dark other than stuff in the dark arts room. She'd even checked the room of requirement. When they reached the dorms, Hermione decided to show Luna the card she had found, she only told her that she'd found it in the library, and asked her what she thought of it. The first thing Luna did was get the detector out of her pocket and hover it over the card. It didn't make any weird noises and Luna gave her a nod.   
"That used to be the password to Dumbledores office I think? The professors kept it how it was, and McGonagall uses her office instead of his out of respect. Maybe it was just someone's way of remembering the password?"   
Hermione hadn't considered it, but it did make sense. Draco may have been given it by Snape for his mission. She shuddered at the thought. It didn't explain why it was in that drawer, but it did explain they card at least. 

________

Lessons were finally starting and Hermione felt a lot better the next day when Hogwarts was back to being busy. The week passed a lot quicker with her days full of lessons, and it was fairly uneventful which made a nice change. On the Saturday morning, whilst eating her breakfast in the Great Hall, she received an owl from Harry and Ron asking about the professors and telling her about work, which made her beam with pride. As much as she missed them being at Hogwarts with her, she was glad they were doing so well. She was also glad things were okay with her and Ron. It had gotten awkward when the war ended. They had shared a kiss in the chamber of secrets, and they'd both agreed after that it had been wrong. She described it to him as feeling like kissing a sibling and he had agreed. They had decided to leave it in the past and remain friends, without all the awkwardness. She took the letter with her when she finished breakfast and headed to the library. 

Before getting stuck into her work, she quickly wrote up a letter back to them. Describing the new professors to them. A fair few had retired after the war, as well as the ones they had lost, so there were quite a few additions to the staff. She wished them well, and asked them to send their love to the other Weasleys and that she was looking forward to seeing them at Christmas, before putting the letter into her bag to take to the Owlery later on.

Hermione got on with the task at hand, writing an essay on the limitations and benefits of a wizard or witch working in a muggle environment. She planned out what she wanted to cover in the essay before heading over to make herself a drink. This time she looked in the box before pulling anything out. At the back of the box was a thin strand of blonde hair. It looked deliberately placed there. Her mind quickly went to the pensieve in Dumbledore's office, it was a long shot, but she figured it was worth a try. If this was in fact one of Draco's hairs, maybe it would have enough DNA on it to trigger a memory, and maybe it had been left for her on purpose. 

She waited for the halls to be empty and snuck through to Dumbledore's office. She whispered 'sherbet lemons' silently praying it would work. The staircase moved and allowed her to gain access. She followed the steps up to the office, it felt wrong to be in there but she knew what she needed to do. She dropped the hair into the pensieve the second she got to it. The strand fell slowly to the bottom whilst Hermione waited for what felt like an eternity. She was suddenly standing in a darker version of Dumbledores office. She turned to find Draco and Dumbledore sat opposite each other, with Snape resting a hand gently on Draco's shoulder.   
"I promise you we will figure this out Draco. You don't have to carry out the Dark Lords wishes." Albus promised.   
"I.. I just can't see an end to it. So we figure this out, then what next? He'll keep ordering me around, I can't live like this anymore." Draco almost cried.   
"I'll set you up a safe house, you can go there once it's done. You'll be safe."  
"I can't just leave, I have Her... people I care about." He pleaded.   
"This is for your protection Draco, please think about it. Now go back to your dorm, myself and Severus have much to discuss."

Everything shifted and Hermione was back out of the memory. She wasn't sure what all this meant. The safe house would have been set up years ago, surely he wouldn't be there now? And how was she meant to find it? 

She quickly left the office, heading towards McGonagall's office.   
"Where's Draco?" She demanded to know, the second she walked into the office.   
"Excuse me?" McGonagall questioned.  
"Dumbledore set up a safe house for Draco before the events in the astronomy tower, I need to know where it is. I think that's where Draco may be." Hermione explained.   
"I knew of a safe house, but I didn't know where it was. Albus thought it would be safer that way. The less people that knew, the safer it was for Draco. I'm sorry Hermione, I know you were fond of Draco, but I really can't help you."  
"How could you know that?"   
"Professors talk. Madame Pince loved to tell us about your after hours meetings. I can't say I saw it coming but it definitely helped him."  
"Well, not if he's dead it didn't or if I can never find him again."  
"I'll see if I can find anything out, for now please focus on your studies. He's been presumed dead Hermione, they don't do that for no reason."

Hermione left the office and headed straight for the library. She needed comfort and knew the smell of the library would help. Once inside, she found Draco's favourite book, settled into the sofa near the coffee table and began to flick through. It was a book about artefacts through the ages, Draco had always been interested in them. 

_"I want to just get away from everything and open a shop." He told her, laying his head on her lap on the sofa, reading the book above his head._  
"And what would you have in this shop?" Hermione giggled, moving a stray strand of his hair back into place.  
"Artefacts, like in this book. I'd collect them and sell them, keeping my favourites for my own collection of course." He beamed. 

Hermione's smiled at the memory, tears threatening to fall. He had to be safe, he just had to be. She gave the book a final flick through, and found the page number on page fifty four circled. Her mind immediately went back to the card and it being underlined. She checked for anything else marked in the book, and found a corner torn from one of the pages. It was a page about what happens if magical artefacts get into the hands of muggles and how dangerous it could be. At this point, she knew this couldn't be coincidence. She quickly walked over to the muggle studies section, and hoped her hunch was right.   
She noticed one of the books had a tiny black mark on the spine. Again she was hoping this wasn't just coincidence. She opened the book, and slowly and carefully studied every single page, until she got to one with a compass drawn onto the page with the 'N' circled, and a sentence about how muggles knowing of the existence of magic would end the wizarding world, with the world 'end' underlined. Hermione then skipped to page fifty four hoping something else would help her because she still was as confused as ever. At the bottom of the page was 'cum vehebantur'. Hermione recognised it as Latin, but couldn't place what it meant so headed over and found a Latin dictionary from the foreign languages section of the library. With her hands full, she decided to take everything over to the table. She looked for the translation of the word she had found and it was 'rode'.   
She wrote all the 'clues' she had down on a piece of parchment.  
54  
North  
End  
Rode

Hermione hadn't noticed anyone come into the library until she heard a voice beside her.   
"You've spelt road wrong." Luna told her. "If you've got a penpal, you might want to spell their address right. The owls are only as smart as we make them. For years I sent letters to the wrong person, I still don't know who it was replying but it definitely wasn't my cousin Stephanie."  
"You're a genius Luna!"   
"I thought you were resident genius around here." Luna smiled.   
"It must be the address, Draco's Latin wasn't the best so he must have mixed up rode and road." She muttered.   
"Draco? Draco's dead Hermione."  
"I don't think he is, I'm sure he's not." 

"Accio world map." Hermione muttered, after grabbing her wand from her robes.  
Hermione quickly cast a locator on the map to find the address. It lit up like a Christmas tree. There was over a hundred 54 Northend Roads. She had hit a dead end. Hermione angrily pushed everything off the table. She didn't know what to do next and frustration took over her emotions.   
Madame Pince cleared her throat from across the room whilst giving Hermione a stern look.   
"Sorry." She muttered, kneeling down to pick up the scattered books and parchment.   
Where the books had landed, the Latin book had fallen to a page that had another word underlined.   
'Litore'  
Hermione knew this word was beach. She quickly placed all the books back on the table and pulled the map out again, this time focusing on which locations were beaches. This narrowed it down a lot and there was only a handful that were beach addresses. This had to be the key. She scribbled the addresses down before racing out of the library and heading to McGonagall's office. 

 

"I've found him. Actually found him this time. I think." Hermione's barely made it into the room before announcing.   
"I couldn't find anything Hermione, are you sure?"  
"I think he left me clues. I've found an address. 54 North End Road, and it's a beach. There's only seven of them, I can check them all. I'll find him."   
"I'll go with you, it could be dangerous, I can't let one of my students venture out alone."   
"I fought Voldemort, I'm sure I can handle whatever the situation is."   
"Okay, but check in please. I assume you'll catch up with your studies? Or will you need a time turner again?"  
"I'm ahead, but if I happen to take too long and get behind I'll catch up."  
"Alright Miss Granger, let me copy those addresses just in case."  
Minerva quickly wrote the addresses onto some parchment and placed it into her desk drawer.   
"Let me know when you're packed and ready to go and I'll let the wards down so you can leave." The headmaster instructed. "And, Hermione remember, he might not be anywhere. As much as I don't want say it again, he's presumed dead."

Within the hour, Hermione was packed and out the castle, and ready to apparate to the first location. 

The first location she arrived at was a cafe. It was a small building, and appeared relatively quiet. Her first thoughts were that it was an enchantment so that Draco would remain hidden. However when she checked it, there as nothing. She walked down the side of the cafe into an alleyway, making sure she was away from muggle eyes, before apparating to the next location.   
The second location was a big house, almost perfect for a Malfoy. She checked for enchantments and found none, got an ID badge out of her bag and enchanted it to read what she wanted it too, and pulled a out a clipboard before knocking on the door.   
"Hello?"   
"Hi, my name is Monica Wilkins, I work for the local council, and we're just doing a household members check." Hermione lied, flashing the enchanted ID badge.   
"Oh hiya." The woman replied. "What can I help you with?"  
"I just need to know the ages of everyone in the household."  
Hermione was hoping this would be easy, and if Draco was in there she would figure it out from what the lady said.  
"Well, there's me who is 40, my husband is 42 and we have two children that are 10 and 13."  
Slightly disheartened, Hermione thought of a different appproach.   
"We've had reports that you've had a roughly 18 year old male here too."  
"Who would report us for that? He's barely here. It's my husbands coworker, he started a few months ago and he has no one so comes here a lot for his dinners."  
Hermione's heart raced.   
"Oh, he's here. I'll get him to come show you his ID, prove his address?" The woman offered.   
"Yes please, that would be helpful."   
The woman walked back into the house to go and fetch him. Hermione's heart felt ready to burst. She hadn't expected to find him this easily, and definitely not staying with muggles.   
The door started to open, and there stood a blonde man. Her heart felt like it dropped. It wasn't Draco. She took down the address from the guys ID to try and keep up appearances before walking away and trying to find a safe place to apparate. 

When she got to the third location she took a few moments to compose herself, before walking up the pathway and heading towards the front door. Hermione did her usual checks and found nothing. She looked through the window and found an elderly lady sitting on an armchair with several cats dotted about the place. The decoration of the room was enough to make Umbridge's cat obsession look normal. She knew in her heart that this wasn't the place, and didn't want to disturb the woman. She checked no one was around before apparating again. 

The fourth location was within a block of flats. She could see the beach from where she had apparated, and a small cafe across the road. Luckily, when Hermione reached the security door to the building it had been wedged open with a stone. She walked in and found her way to number 54. After knocking a few times and no one answering, she decided to let herself in and grabbed her wand from her bag.  
"Alohamora." She muttered after checking no one could see her. The flat didn't look lived in. It was furnished, and had random objects on the shelves etc, but other than that it looked like it was all abandoned. Everything was random, and there was no order to anything. She didn't think any of this belonged to Draco, he was too organised. She did a last check for enchantments, and after finding nothing, locked the door and made her way back out of the flats.   
The apparating was starting to take its toll. Hermione was exhausted, and decided to grab something from the cafe before moving on to the next location. 

"Mocha with a shot of vanilla please, and a cheese sandwich to go."  
"What is it with you teenagers and your fancy coffees." The man behind the counter laughed. "You're the second person to order that today, why does no one just have coffee anymore?"  
Hermione laughed with him, before he handed her sandwich to her, and after a few minutes her coffee too.   
"Thank you very much." She told him.   
"You're welcome. Have a lovely day."

Hermione walked out of the cafe and headed down an alleyway that was marked as heading towards the beach. She found a nice quiet part of the promenade, and sat down at the edge of the prom. She got out her list and crossed off the addresses she'd visited, and made a mental note of the next location. She watched the waves crash against each other and a few children playing in the sand with their families. 

Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind her. A familiar voice. 

"What took you so long?"


End file.
